Actor Charlton Heston, former US President Ronald Reagan, actor Burgess Meredith, Cardinal Paul Silva Henriques, fashion designer Louis Féraud , former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and novelist Iris Murdoch are among the hundreds of thousands that got lost in a horrible maze called dementia.

My father’s memory loss, together with the loss of his sense of identity, were tough to live with- Fr Joe Borg

Murdoch’s story was immortalised by her loving partner of 40 years, John Bayley, in the book Elegy for Iris. Writer-director Richard Eyre gave us a refined and sobering cinematic version in the film Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch (2001).

Eyre does a terrific job in showing us the deterioration of the brilliant woman and of the great dedication and love of her partner.

Bayley had once said of Iris: “A beautiful maiden who disappears into an unknown and mysterious world every now and again... but who always comes back.”

When she fell victim to dementia she descended into the unknown without ever coming back.

Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron described dementia as a terrible disease and “one of the greatest challenges of our times”.

Current affairs TV programme Xarabank recently visited this condition which heartlessly alienates sufferers from themselves and from their loved ones. This edition on dementia was as painful as it was intense. I was not just delving into arguments for the subject was too emotionally close for comfort. I was too intimately involved.

I had the privilege of being very close to my father in the last five years of his life when he was suffering from dementia. His memory loss, together with the loss of his sense of identity, were tough to live with.

It is heartrending when your own father does not recognise you. It hurts when he does not even know who he is. This is only just bearable whenever he is at peace with the situation but unbearable when he suffers because of it.

He suffered enormously whenever he believed I was preventing him from earning a livelihood for his children. He was truly convinced at the time that we would go hungry.

I thank God for making it possible for me to take care for my father. There is nothing I am more proud of than the time I spent with him. Those long hours instil in me a sense of gratitude and peace.

Dementia is devastating for patients as well as their carers. This devastation is expected to rise as the Maltese population above the age of 65 is expected to double by 2050 and the number of people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia is bound to increase.

It is estimated that by 2035, peoplesuffering from dementia will number approximately 8,000. If one adds to this number close family members who take care of them the number is worrying indeed.

The ward at St Vincent de Paul residence for the elderly offering specialised care to dementia patients and the listing of provision of expensive pills free of charge are good steps forward. However, more needs to be done. It is important that a national policy for dementia be adopted for this will help dementia sufferers and their loved ones no end.

Perhaps, besides Murdoch’s eyes, Maltese eyes will smile too.

• The bishops of Iowa and Pennsylvania asked all Catholics to dedicate the regular Lenten Friday practice of abstinence and fasting last Friday, to the preservation of religious liberty. This decision is just another sign that the relationship between the Obama administration and the US bishops is indeed souring.

The controversy is about regulations on mandatory coverage of contraceptives, sterilisation and abortion-inducing drugs. The bishops have objected that the mandate does not exempt Catholic charities, schools, universities, or hospitals, and forces these institutions and others, against their conscience, to pay for things they consider immoral.

The US administration has mellowed its stand and proposed a compromise position. This has been welcomed by several Catholics but the bishops think the amendments did not go far enough.

Cardinal Dolan said “religious freedom is under attack, and we will not cease our struggle to protect it... we are not at peace with its (the government’s) invasive attempt to curtail the religious freedom we cherish as Catholics and Americans.

“We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it.”

The Jesuit-owned magazine America stated that the bishops were right to fight Obama’s original proposal since it is a fight for religious liberty. That said, however, the magazine opines that though the amended version of the policy can be improved further, opposition to it currently entails a difference over policy, not an infringement of religious liberty:

“In the present instance, claims of religious liberty may collide with the right to healthcare, or that the religious rights of other denominations are in tension with those of Catholics.”

Probably due to this controversy the percentage of Catholics who think the Obama administration is unfriendly toward religious freedom has increased from 15 per cent in August 2009 to 25 per cent in March 2012. Yet, a relative majority – 42 per cent of Catholics believe the administration is friendly to religion.

• The Times recently provided a list of names given to boys. Besides Kazon and Liban there were Prince, Favour or Kaiser. Another boy, I was told, is called Thunder.

Among the names given to girls one finds Shanaud, Libya, Victory, Rainbow, Favourite and Jetaime.

I heard Franco Debono say on TV that someone wanted to name his son ‘Franco Debono’. Some children really do have them.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt